


Coincidences || l.s.

by Rose_Dagger_9194



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Coincidences, Cute, Fluff, H is a writer/editor, Humor, L doesnt have a specified job, M/M, One Shot, Romance, Silly, based off of a commercial, larry stylinson - Freeform, who knows what he does
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-10 14:29:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18662257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rose_Dagger_9194/pseuds/Rose_Dagger_9194
Summary: Where L meets H in an unconventional way but they will have the chance to laugh it off eventually.or;The one where H takes a strangers dog and L takes a friends baby. All to meet each other.





	Coincidences || l.s.

"I don't know... I cant just walk up to him, you know? He's too cute for that. He might think I'm weird." Louis breathed out softly as he sat back against the sofa, hand coming up to cover his face.

It has been three weeks since he started to see a new face at the park. A whole three weeks. Out of the five years that he has lived there, has been to the park two blocks from his complex, he's never seen that man. The man that was too gorgeous for his own good and was always taking casual strolls in the park and sometimes getting ice cream and other times having a book to read as he sat on a bench. A different bench every time. His hair was curly and rather long, he was tall. Taller than Louis. He had beautiful green eyes and he only knew that because he walked past him one day, purposefully, and they made eye contact and he waved.

Liam stood there, arms holding a crying baby and bouncing slightly. "I asked you if you could hand me his binky."

Louis groaned. "I told you already to stop giving him that damn thing." He mumbled, sitting up and grabbing it from the table anyways and tossing it over to Liam.

"I know. I'm trying to get him off it but he wont stop crying until he gets it sometimes." Liam said, gently pressing the nipple of the pacifier to the baby's mouth and watching him instantly stop crying and fussing about and just sucking happily on it. "I need Zayn to come back home from work.. I hate his late days."

Louis hummed. "That you do. Zayn wouldn't have let him have the binky." He stated, grinning when Liam shot him a glare.

"I've had enough of you, actually. Why am I here?" Liam said, moving to step over, kicking Louis' legs to get them off the small coffee table so he could move past and sit down besides him.

Louis moved to cross one leg over the other then, leaning back to rest against the back of the sofa once more. "But back to me."

"Louis you've been going on this mystery guy for ages. And by ages I mean two weeks to the dot. Just go talk to him." Liam said, looking over at him. "Honestly. You already know his favorite ice cream flavor-"

"Mint chip. In a cup not a cone." Louis stated with a small nod.

"...Right. But that is coincidentally one of your favorite flavors, as well. What a great conversation starter!" Liam said, giving a smile and reaching a hand over to pat his thigh encouragingly.

"But what if he's not single?"

"Louis. You wont know that until you just go up and talk to him. Your stalking is getting weird and when you get a lawsuit and a restraining order against you, I will not be put down as an accomplice." Liam shook his head, looking back down at where Jackson was sitting on his lap.

Louis glanced over as well, smiling slightly at the boy who was sitting up in Liam's lap and just playing with Liam's hand. Then he got an idea. "Oh my god. Liam. Let me take Jax to the park."

Liam frowned slightly. "Why? No. Its supposed to be his nap time anyways. If he goes to the park, he'll want to play and his daily schedule will be all out of whack and Zayn will come home and murder me."

"Okay. I get that. But no one can resist babies! Especially cute babies. And Jax is a cute baby. That would be the one great conversation starter that I need!" Louis exclaimed and reached over to gently tickle the babies tummy. Who in turn giggled around the pacifier in his mouth. Yes, Louis thought. He was perfect.

"You are absolutely not using my baby to get a guys attention. No way. Are you insane?" Liam shook his head.

"It'll make me never talk about the boy ever again." Louis stated.

Liam paused for a moment, looking down at the baby a moment before he sighed. "Let me get him ready."

~

Harry just moved to the city around a month ago. He was staying in a nice flat, more like a studio since it was spacious but it was all one open area. It was gorgeous, though, and he didn't mind that the only doors were to the bathroom and the front door. It was nice. He absolutely loved the view of the windows as well. It gave him full view to the city and he almost always had the blinds pulled up now since the natural light was gorgeous.

He took a week to get moved in and unpacked completely before he started to explore the city, going anywhere he could. He tried different food shops and carts, went to different stores, looked around at the local attractions. Being a proper tourist and he loved doing it all the same. He had a job lined up in a corporate building for an editing firm and it was good pay. Not to mention that it was a promotion from where he used to work back when he lived in Holmes Chapel. Thanks to his sister who writes columns on a huge media outlet and has a large following and everything. It was a normal nine to five job but he was always an overachiever and he knew he would stay later than he had to or arrive early if need be without a second thought. He was set and loving life, really. New opportunities and a new start. He was excited. He loved it.

Harry especially loved this huge park that was just a couple blocks from his apartment. It had art statues in one section of it and another had an open area of grass where people of all sorts would either picnic or play catch or he once saw some cheerleaders practicing. Then there was another section covered in trees with a path that spread far with benches lining it. That path was his favorite part of the park, too. He liked to jog down it sometimes with his headphones in while his phone played music soothingly and motivating in his ears. He also would walk along it sometimes and stop by the ice cream vendor that always set up there. It might be his favorite ice cream stand yet. He would sit down at a bench and watch over everyone when he had gotten his ice cream, enjoying the scenery and the different people living out drastically different lives. There was never a dull moment and there was also never the same thing happening twice in a row whenever he went. It was always different.

Well. Except one thing. There was a boy. He was probably the cutest that he's ever seen in his life that was always there whenever he went. He seemed pretty accustomed to the park so Harry could only assume that he had lived there for quite a long time. Well. Longer than he has, at least. He didn't really know anything about this boy. Apart from the fact that he's adorable and he seemed pretty active. You had to be if you came to a park a lot. He was there whenever Harry went so who knows if he was there every day, even when Harry didn't go.

Oh, and that time that he had overheard him speaking to someone about a baby named Jax when his music turned off as he was reading and he just didn't bother starting up a new playlist.. Harry liked his voice. It was light and soft and so soothing. Oh, and Harry kind of really liked babies. Really really liked babies.

It was a Thursday, close to three in the afternoon, when Harry decided that he was going to go to the park. He had worked from home that day since he wasn't needed at the office this time. And yes, he had begged to physically go in. When they told him no, he had also called up everyone he knew at the firm to see if they needed help so he could go to the office and do something. Which didn't happen either. Well, anyways, he decided to go have fun and go to the park. Maybe get some ice cream. Maybe see the boy again.

That last thought did make him smile. Maybe this time they could actually talk instead of jumping around each other over and over like they have. He was always waiting for him to make the first move but maybe he should. But how?

Harry thought about this on his way towards the park, phone tucked away in his pocket and his hands free. He didn't plan on running or reading anything or even doing work. He just wanted to go and wanted to as something to do that didn't keep him cooped up in his home. He hated being inside for that long without having anything to do. But, back to the topic at hand. If he walked right up to the boy, he will have to have something as a conversation starter. Right now, Harry didn't have anything like that. He had pick-up lines but he didn't think that pick-up lines would be very useful right then. He had to start up a conversation first and make sure that the boy would know that he wasn't an asshole trying to chat him up. He'll bring out his pick-up lines later on and maybe on the first date if they liked each other. Sometimes cute people aren't the best people. Harry had an open mind, though.

Once he got to the park he instantly let his eyes trail around as he headed towards the pathway that he liked to take seat in. Then his eyes caught sight in the distance of the boy. He paused and watched him as he was with another man holding a baby. He didn't have the perfect idea on how to go up to him yet, though. He needed something to start up a conversation with. He was panicking a bit, he will admit. Though, he did turn and saw a lady that had a dog laying at her feet while she was sitting at a bench and reading a book. He's never ever thought he would be in this position at all but he did eventually rush over to her.

"Hi. Sorry if I'm interrupting you or something. Um... And this is going to sound absolutely insane and I understand a hundred and ten percent if you saw no and tell me to leave. But your dog is beautiful and I was wondering if I could use them to go meet a guy because I have no idea what to say and maybe this would be a great conversation starter. Because who doesn't like puppies, you know?" Harry babbled out, hands held together in front of himself in a pleading manner. The lady gazed up to him and just stared before she laughed out, nodding slightly.

"Oh, wow. That's actually the funniest thing I've ever heard. I don't mind at all. Go ahead. He probably would love it if he got to walk around, anyways." She spoke, moving to reach down to start untying the leash from the leg of the bench. Harry felt himself relaxing down instantly since this actually worked. How or why this actually worked was beyond him but he was entirely too grateful to have the worst best person to be the owner of the dog and not someone that would call the cops on him.

"Thank you so much. I'll bring him back when I'm done." Harry said and gently took the leash from the lady. "You are a life saver.."

"It's fine. If I was in your place, I'd probably want someone to do the same for me." The lady said with a wave of her hand. "I want to know how it goes."

Harry grinned and nodded, looking down at the dog. "Absolutely."

~

"Okay. Give me Jax." Louis said and moved to turn towards Liam when they got to the spot a little bit away from where he normally sees the other really cute boy. He hoped that maybe they were safe from being spotted. He has yet to catch sight of the boy, too, so they were in the clear.

Liam moved to take Jackson out from the spot where he was attached to his chest and moved to hand him over. "Be careful with my son, Louis William. I swear to god, I will kill you if anything happens to him."

Louis rolled his eyes slightly and just moved to hold Jackson on his hip, smiling over at the baby. He seemed to be enjoying being outside and that was wonderful. A happy baby meant that he had very good chances. If he was going to cry, though, that would somewhat ruin things but he had high hopes right now.

Louis turned to start walking over to the path, eyes looking around to see if maybe he can find who he was looking for. Then he saw him walking towards where they were and Louis let his eyes trail down. A dog? He had a dog. Louis loved dogs. Wait, since when did he have a dog? Maybe he's always had a dog and he just missed the times where he had the dog? Who knows. No. Wait. This was wonderful. Not only did Louis like dogs but he knew for a fact that Jackson liked dogs too. This was perfect. Wonderful.

Louis cleared his throat and walked towards him, pretending like he didn't notice the boy and on cue, Jackson started to squeal a bit at the sight of the dog once he had seen it. Louis looked over and instantly caught sight of the bright green eyes that he had grown very very fond of over the past few weeks. He gave a tiny laugh and just held Jackson close, smiling over to the boy. "Oh! Sorry. He just likes dogs... And cute boys."

Harry stopped walking for a second and just stared a moment. That wasn't his kid. From that comment and the way Harry noticed Louis look at him and strategically move towards him to flirt like that, it wasn't hard to piece two and two together about what he was doing. So, finding it pretty comedic that they both seemed to have the same idea with each other, he smirked. Would it really be bad if he teased him a little bit? It wasn't every day that two people tried to impress each other like this at the same time. So, he pointed over towards where Liam was. "Or is that your friend over there's kid and you are just using him as bait?"

Louis lost his smile slightly and turned his head, watching as Liam tried to act non-suspicious by covering his face with the diaper bag. Coincidentally, he was only making himself look even more suspicious. Louis puffed out his cheeks, knowing that in that moment he hasn't felt as embarrassed in his life. He looked back at Harry sheepishly. "Yeah.. Caught me. Let me just.. I'm gonna go give Jax back to him.."

Harry only laughed softly and nodded his head, watching as Louis was moving to walk back over to where his friend was standing in the grass.

"What happened?" Liam asked as Louis came closer to him, easily moving to take Jackson back when Louis handed him over.

"We were too obvious. He knew. He knew Jax was yours. You look like such a dad." Louis said quickly since he didn't want to leave this boy waiting long. He wasn't about to walk around like an idiot with Jackson though since Harry already knew that he wasn't his.

"What does that mean? Are you going back over there?" Liam asked, looking over at where the boy was and then back at Louis.

"Duh. You can go home." Louis said as he backed away.

"Uh- Yeah! Okay. Have fun. Good luck." Liam said, giving a thumbs up to him before Louis smiled back and returned the thumbs up. He then turned around so he could jog over to where Harry was still waiting for him.

"That was good." Harry stated, nodding slightly and then turning to start walking side by side with Louis, the dog on the leash at his other side. "That was really good. Extremely smooth. I don't know how you were able to get your friend to agree to letting you take his kid to go flirt someone. Normally that only happens in movies."

Louis merely laughed. "Honestly. I guess its got to be all about trust." He said, looking over at Harry's side profile as they both walked along the path. "Let me get you an ice cream? And now there is me genuinely flirting and trying to get you to agree to that so that way you would owe me something in return and we can see each other again."

"Oh, look at you. Showing me all your tricks now." Harry said with a small smile. "I'll just have to take you up on that offer, though. I've got a soft spot for sweets. Especially ice cream."

Before Louis could say 'i know', he caught himself and just smiled. He cant start to be creepy right now. He was doing so well. He needed to keep it up so that way Harry doesn't get scared off. He wants this to be good, wants there to be something between them. Harry was cute. Not only was he cute, though, but he was drop dead gorgeous. No, that wasn't the same thing, it was entirely different and Harry was all of the above. And he was putting up with the straightforwardness that Louis was giving out with a smile. That was a good sign. Normally others would be a bit hesitant and get uncomfortable but Harry was smiling along and his posture showed that he was relaxed and comfortable.

They walked in silence after that until they got to the ice cream vendor and Louis saw Harry practically light up and it had to be the cutest thing he's ever seen in his life. He was attracted to him, yes, but he also really liked the energy he gave off and he wanted to just know him. To spend time with him and laugh with him and fall in love and do all that gooey shit. "What kind of ice cream do you want?"

Harry hummed softly. "Mint chip in a cup, please. One scoop."

Louis smiled, he knew it. He turned and ordered them both ice cream, getting the same but getting two scoops since he loved ice cream and didn't care about it being a sweetness overload. Once he paid and handed Harry his cup, they started to walk again. "Look... I completely put all of the blame on my friend-"

Harry moved to the side towards another lady and handed over the dogs leash. "Thank you. Thank you so much." He said softly to her before he turned to keep walking, smirking over the spoon of ice cream he had put in his mouth.

Louis was a bit dumbfounded as he watched but then he just bit back a smile, walking to catch up to Harry. "That wasn't your dog."

Harry merely laughed.

"You made me feel stupid!" Louis accused, though he was still smiling. What were the odds that they both were using things that weren't theirs to get each others attention.

"Hey. Don't go blaming me. At least I was actually able to hide it well. I was subtle and I did great. You, however, suck at pretending to be a dad. Especially when the real dad is like fifty feet away with the stroller." Harry laughed out, looking over at Louis fondly and then back down at the cup of ice cream that he had, poking his spoon around it before he liked the bite he had on the spoon and then put it to his mouth. 

Louis just shook his head with a smile and watched him for a couple seconds as they walked. This had to be a sign, right? They both obviously liked each other and the fact that neither of them just wanted to walk right up to each other without something good to start a conversation with. It obviously didn't work on his end but then again, it kind of turned out the way that he wanted to. He got the boy he had wanted. "Wait. What's your name?"

"Harry." Harry smiled slightly to himself and then glanced over at Louis for a second. "What's yours?"

"Louis." Louis said instantly back, moving to hold out a hand to him. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Pleasure is all mine." Harry said back, reaching a hand over to shake Louis' extended hand. His other hand held the cup of ice cream.

"What does that even mean, by the way?" Louis asked as he pulled his hand back and started to eat his ice cream again. 

Harry shrugged. "I think it means.. like.. It's my pleasure."

"Well... yeah. But why is it your pleasure? Whats your pleasure?" Louis asked, putting another spoonful of ice cream in his mouth as they continued to walk the path. 

"I... Don't know. Why are you asking me? It just sounded cool to say. I didn't know that I was going to have to explain myself after everything I say." Harry laughed softly before he looked towards an empty bench and looked back at Louis. "Wanna sit?"

Louis looked back and nodded, moving to step over and sitting down at the bench, leaving room for Harry to sit down next to him. "Alright, Harry. Now you have to tell me why you used a strangers dog to get my attention. Was it to get my attention specifically or was it to get anyone's attention?"

Harry leaned back against the bench and looked over at Louis now that he could focus his attention solely on him and not on where he was walking. "Oh no. No no no. Why did you use your friends baby to get my attention?"

"I asked you first!" 

"I caught you first!"

Louis' eyes narrowed slightly. "You drive a hard bargain there, love." He stated. Harry had to hide the fact that the nickname made him extremely happy. He was definitely a sucker for pet names. "Alright. Here we go. I'm risking everything here, Harry. It is not my fault or my problem if you end up getting upset or anything. I warned you. You have been warned." 

Harry stifled a giggle. "I have been warned. Go on, then. Make me upset and uncomfortable. I'm ready."

Louis looked over with a grin. Harry just went along with his antics. It was definitely a good sign. They had to be meant for each other. This was too much of a coincidence for them to be so good for each other and for them to both want to meet each other in an unconventional way. "Okay.. So I noticed you start to come here about three weeks ago.. I thought you were cute and I really had no idea how to approach you and I didn't want to look like a dick coming up to you and using some shit pick up lines. I wanted to have something that I could use to start a conversation. And I may have gotten to know little things about you over the three weeks and I knew you would like babies. I talked Liam into letting me use his baby, Jax. Who is adorable, by the way. I knew he would make you swoon and I could talk to you about him and then slide in other words and then boom, we're laughing and stuff.."

Harry was genuinely in awe. Louis had to be perfect and that was too good to be true but Harry was trying to do things that benefit him. He couldn't let this boy go. "And how were you planning on telling me that the baby isn't yours if I got attached to him?"

"Ah, see... I didn't think it through. So I genuinely have no clue what I would have done." Louis pointed out and it made Harry laugh softly. "Your turn."

"Honestly? Same thing goes for me. I noticed you and thought you were cute but I was too shy to say anything. But then I saw a dog and I felt like maybe you would compliment the dog if I had it and it would get us talking." Harry said with a small sheepish shrug. 

"Shut up. Seriously?" Louis asked with a grin. 

"Yep..." Harry looked over at him and bit his bottom lip. 

"Well. There's only one thing we can do now." Louis said and stood up, moving to go toss away the cup of ice cream he had. Harry frowned slightly. "Come on, then."

Harry stood up from his spot and just went to go toss away his cup as well to follow Louis' lead. "What? Where are we going?"

"On a date."

Harry's eyes practically bulged out of his head, rushing to walk next to Louis instead, looking right at him. "You didn't even ask me!"

"Do I even need to?" Louis asked with a grin over at him. He was feeling bold and Harry seemed to really like the element of surprise. 

"No..." Harry said softly.

"So... I was thinking pizza." Louis said, making Harry bite down on his bottom lip to control a smile. He would bet everything that Louis knew somehow that pizza was his favorite food.


End file.
